TWD: Toasted Coconut Custard Tart

I love coconut. Always have, hopefully always will. I agree it has a different type of texture... but, what doesnt? It's not like I sit around and eat coconut out of the bag or anything... but I LOVE it in things, on top of things, whatever.

But, it's one of those foods that divides people. You're either into the coconut, or you hate it. There's no "meh." As much as I love coconut, I've never really been one to eat a lot of coconut cream pie. I'm not sure why... probably because anything with a huge plume of whipped cream or meringue on top generally makes me suspicious. It's like someone's trying to hide something underneath a veil of white fluff. I'm onto you meringues. I know your game.

So, I generally get my coconut in the form of cookies, candy bars (almond joys? swoon), cakes, breads, etc.

So when Beryl of Cinemon Girl chose the Toasted Coconut Custard Tart for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, I was stoked. I'd never made a coconut custard tart and was excited to try something new. (Plus, coconut recipes are kind of low-man on the totem pole in a big group of bakers).

I made a small batch and of course, despite sitting down with the recipe and trying to quarter it properly... I botched it and came out with glop instead of custard. But, the beauty of this recipe is that it was STILL delicious. Like... one taste and I was in coconut heaven. It was unlike anything I'd ever had before. Creamy, sweet and packed with coconut flavor.

I cannot wait to make this again as a full recipe and see how good an accurately measured version is. If you're a coconut fan, this will seriously blow your socks off.

Toasted Coconut Custard Tart
Recipe by Dorie Greenspan

Besides trying to quarter this recipe (which I don't suggest you do), I also made a few other changes. First of all, since I was making a mini-recipe, I made a graham cracker crust instead of a standart tart crust. Easy and delicious!

Next, I skipped the whipped cream topping. To me, meringue and whipped cream just get in the way. But, if you're sucker for toppings, by all means make the one Dorie puts with the recipes... rum in the whipped cream sounds delicious!

Also, I added vanilla to the recipe in addition to the dark rum, I thought it added a nice subtle flavor.

The bad news? I used WAYYY too much cornstarch and so my custard turned into a thick, thick, goopy mess. But... the flavor was still delicious.

Entire Recipe Here

TWD: Chocolate Crunched Caramel Tart

Allow me to introduce you to few new things going on in my life these days.

For one, I've become incredibly busy at work. Busier than I ever have been. Which is great! But, also a little wearing. I'm not the type that stresses out easily and I can definitely leave my work at work when I go home in the afternoons, but for the 8 hours that I'm there: I'm swamped.

Two, I've started taking some classes. Yes, I have my bachelors degree, but it's time to start working toward the classes I need to sit for the CPA exam. That means, this semester, I'm taking 3 classes. 2 economics classes online and a pre-calculus class every Tuesday night for 3 hours (yes, I said pre-calculus for 3 hours. and yes, it's just as awful as you're imagining).

Three, I'm the captain for a relay team for the Bourbon Chase. Initially, you think... oh, how much trouble can being a captain be? And then you get into the thick of it and you realize: holy shit. I'm crafting an average of 3-4 emails a week on this. There is a lot of organizing and logisitics to figure out. And then you've got roster changes from injuries and people dropping out. It's just been a lot to deal with. It's fun and I'm happy to do it, but it gets a little frustrating when other people want things done on their time schedule.

It's good though. In general, I enjoy being busy. It makes me feel more alive. I am still trying to squeeze some baking in here and there, though. Which brings us to this recipe. This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was chosen by Carla of Chocolate Moosey . It came together fairly easily and uses Dorie's Tart dough recipe (which I adore). My caramel turned into toffee, which isn't a bad thing, but I actually think it made it richer than just the caramel would have been. The combination of the flaky, shortbread-y crust with the crunchy, buttery toffee and the sharp, thick, gooey chocolate layer on top is almost too much. Almost.

This isn't the type of recipe that I'd make for myself again, but I can see myself making it for a group. Plus, I'd like to give the caramel another try. I guess I just cooked it too long.

Chocolate Crunched Caramel Tart -- Click the title for the recipe.

The recipe is fairly easily. I subbed pecans for the peanuts, just because that's what I had on hand. It is a super rich, decadent recipe though, and I think my layer of chocolate ganache was a little too thick. Next time I'd just smear a thin layer on top.

TWD: Chocolate Souffle

See that? The title up there... "Chocolate Souffle." Yeah. That's why I love Tuesdays with Dorie. Because there is no way in hell I would have EVER attempted to make a souffle otherwise. I mean, I didn't even really know what a freaking souffle was, but I was excited to try it at home.

So, let's go over the basics. It's true. I'd never had a souffle, never seen one in real life. I wasn't even entirely sure exactly what it was. Turns out, it's a custard-y, puffy cake that can either be sweet or savory. You make it by whipping egg whites until they're fluffy and then you fold in whatever flavor souffle you are going to make. Pop it in the oven, let it rise and then devour immediately.

Now, in theory, this is the perfect dessert for me. It's got a crispy outer edge (I love crispy) and then deep inside, it's ooey and gooey and hot (I always love underbaked goodies). I mean, it's a match made in heaven as far as I'm concerned. How could I have gone 29 years without having a souffle? I have lived a sheltered life, indeed.

Unfortunately, I overcooked mine a bit, I think. Because mine wasn't quite as gooey as I would have liked, but the idea excited me and I'm definitely going to be trying this dessert again soon and hopefully I can master the technique. I mean it was SUPER easy to put together. Well, except for the temporary carpal tunnel syndrome that you get from all that folding. Oh my god, is there anything more tedious in the baking world than folding? Seriously. Can't we come up with some kind of folding attachment for the handheld mixer? Is someone working on this? Please? But aside from that, it was easy. And... my favorite part... I had all the ingredients on hand! No running out to the store to buy a can of instant espresso or a mini bottle of cognac or any of that bullshit. Just eggs, chocolate, sugar, and milk. I can see myself whipping myself up a little souffle instead of a batch of brownies when I get that oooey gooey chocolate craving. And, how incredibly awesome is that? Whipping up souffles on a whim and whatnot? Awesome indeed.

Thank you, Tuesdays with Dorie and specifically Susan of She's Becoming Doughmesstic (who, by the way, has a great blog that you should be checking out regularly anyway) who chose this week's recipe and introduced me to something that might just become one of my favorite desserts.

Chocolate Souffle -- Click title for recipe

So, I was really unsure of how this recipe was going to turn out for me. I quartered the recipe (always scary when there are eggs in the recipe) and completely omitted the milk (since the amount would have been negligible anyway) and it still rose perfectly and tasted wonderful. The only warning? Don't overbake and apparently you can't make these ahead cause they'll fall. But, I doubt I'll ever know that from experience because I think I'll have a spoon in it as soon as I pull it out of the oven anyway (and the burnt tongue for days after).

TWD: Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie

How serendipitous that this recipe chosen for this week's installment of Tuesdays with Dorie is something that I know my best friend, Stephanie would love. Why is that serendipitous? Well, because her birthday was Saturday and while I was making it (on Saturday, even), I couldn't help but be reminded of her and be saddened because I couldn't share it with her on her birthday.

So, here I am a few days later, sharing it with her and the rest of the Internet and telling all y'all... this pie is damn good.

Steph moved to Portland, Oregon a little over a year ago. And while I'm ecstatic for her and her awesome new life out West, it's a hard adjustment to make. Admittedly, neither of us are phone people. We've never really had to be. I mean, we both went to different colleges, but we still came home pretty much the same weekends, etc, so it wasn't really an issue. And after college, if I wanted to talk to her... we would just meet up for dinner or shopping or whatever. But... that's kind of hard to do when we're 1000s of miles apart.

So, basically, I've dropped the ball. I get kind of wrapped up in my own stuff... and I have kind of an unusual routine for someone my age: I go to bed around 9pm and wake up around 5am. I'm not a phone person, so the idea just doesn't pop into my head very often... "oh! I should call so-and-so." And while I think of her everyday, it just doesn't dawn on me to actually pick up the phone and call. And then... after, oh say, 3 months of not calling... when I realize it's been 3 months... then I feel guilty for being such a shitty friend. 3 months! who doesn't call their best friend in 3 months? (This girl, apparently).

I view my life as a work-in-progress and as such, I have this really long self-help to do list for myself that I am constantly working on. Here's a snippet of the list:

32. Say YES to every 2 out of 3 things you're invited to.
33. Be a better friend. Call your friends who live far away, more often.
34. Say NO to 1 out of every 5 tequila shots ordered.
35. Don't engage in flirty texts with douche bag dudes who wronged you in the past.

So, you see... keeping in touch better with friends is something that I know I need to work on and I'm going to make a conscience effort to do so from now. So, all you friends of mine out there... I'm sorry. I know, I suck, but I'm going to get better.

So, Steph, even though I couldn't share this pie with you... it has your name written all over it. You would FREAK over it. It's so creamy and lime-y. It's like a key lime pie, except without the chemically aftertaste that sweetened condensed milk can sometimes leave. I didn't really give it enough time to firm up before I dove into it, but no matter... it was still creamy and silky and tangy. Lime perfection.

Happy Birthday, Steph! I love you and miss you! If I could have wrapped this pie up and shipped it to you, I would have.
Creamiest Lime Cream Meringue Pie (click the title for the recipe)
Chosen by Linda of Tender Crumb

Ok, so of course... I couldn't make this pie directly as written because 1. I dislike calf slobber meringue and 2. I'm a little leery of ginger and didn't want to buy any. I made this pie with a graham cracker crust, although, I think I will try it sometime with a regular crust. My graham cracker crust just never really set up properly. I also added a touch of ground ginger, instead of fresh ginger and I couldn't even notice it in the flavor of the pie (hooray!). The recipe calls for a crapload of butter, but I only added in one stick and didn't even notice the missing calories (though, my love handles thanked me). It's very much like a key lime pie, but, it's a touch silkier, I think. Definitely a keeper and I will definitely make it again... and maybe top it with some fresh whipped cream. Yum.

Banana Pudding

Okay, confession time. As much as I like to moan and groan about it to as many people as will listen, I have to admit... having two older brothers is an awesome experience. And even though I had my doubts when we were growing up of what kind of men they'd turn into... I mean, who wouldn't wonder that about a kid who sits on his little sister's head and farts on her when he's babysitting? Right? Or what about making their little sister hold a G.I. Joe up on a fence post so that they can shoot BBs at it? You gotta admit, that's a wee bit demented. I'm happy to report (thanks in large part to my parents, I suppose) they both grew into good men who I am proud to call my brothers.

Sure, we had our moments growing up... we fought, I cried, I tattled, we fought, I got them grounded, etc and that just describes one afternoon of my life growing up.

My oldest brother had his birthday a few weeks ago. And my mom pulled the "mom trump card" on that birthday and made his birthday cake for him. Now it's my other brother's turn and since my parents were out of town on his birthday, I took it upon myself to make him something that I knew he'd love.

Banana Pudding.

Now, honestly... banana pudding has never been my favorite. It's mushy. It's pudding-y. Blech. Not my cup of tea. But it is something that is very traditional in southern cuisine, so I was anxious to try my hand at a recipe.

I ended up adapting a couple of recipes into my own. It came together really easy and when I gave it to him... I went ahead and helped myself to a little piece... I mean... I couldn't let him eat a piece of it by himself, for heaven's sake. What kind of sister would I be?

I gotta say... homemade banana pudding is 15,000 times better then the jello banana pudding I've had so many times. Holy Crikies is this stuff good. Like... so good that I kept going back to sneak more. It is so sweet, so creamy, so banana-y. Soooo delicious.

Jackpot! Maybe next year, I'll make this banana pudding for my birthday!

Happy Birthday, Bro!

Banana Pudding
10 servings

This banana pudding is rich and super sweet. I'm obsessed with peanut butter and banana, so I used peanut butter sandwich cookies to line the entire bottom and to alternate on the top. If you like your banana pudding straight up traditional, just go for vanilla wafers all the way.

Also, I had some pudding left over... but, it's delicious with cookies dipped in it, etc.

1/3 cup all purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
Dash salt
2 ½ cups whole milk
1 14 oz can of sweetened condensed milk
4 egg yolks, lightly beaten
2 tsps vanilla extract
8 oz cream cheese, softened
12 oz of Cool Whip, thawed
3 cups sliced ripe bananas (5-6)
45 vanilla wafers
Package of Nutter Butters

Combine flour, sugar, and salt in medium saucepan. Gradually stir in milk and condensed milk and yolks, and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, for 8 minutes or until thickened.

Remove from heat; stir in vanilla and set aside with a piece of saran wrap pressed down onto the pudding till it cools. After it comes to room temperature, beat in cream cheese. Gently fold in cool whip. Set aside.

Place a layer of Nutter Butters in the bottom of 2 quart baking dish and arrange 1 cup of bananas on top. Then spoon 1/3 pudding mixture over bananas; top with a layer of vanilla wafers. Repeat layers once; top with remaining bananas and pudding. Arrange Nutter Butters around the inside edge of dish and push gently into the pudding. Cover the top with vanilla wafers, if you wish. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

TWD: Chocolate Cream Pie

What's that?

You think my pie looks different from the other Tuesdays with Dorie peeps? Well, that's probably because I cheated. Not like-going out and buying a frozen Marie Callender Chocolate Cream Pie and trying to pass it off as homemade-cheated, but cheated nonetheless.

Here's the story.

Originally, I was going to make this pie for Easter Dinner. It was a chocolate dessert so I knew everyone would eat it. Plus, the timing was perfect because, I had some whole milk and heavy cream leftover from something else. And that whole milk was driving me insane. I mean, it was going to go bad if I didn't use it up (which I hate) and it's thick, rich, velvety goodness called out to me everytime I poured a bowl of honey nut cheerios. It was only a matter of time, folks... that damn whole milk was going to own me.

So, I made the dough for the regular tart crust (insert first subsitution here) and tucked it in the fridge till I was ready for it. The recipe calls for a chocolate tart crust. But... ummm.. here's the thing. I'm not a big fan of chocolate crusts. They just always taste burnt to me.

Then I whipped up the pudding/cream filling (which, I gotta say, is so easy now that I've learned my lesson from previous pudding/cream makings. Basically... you gotta have your shit ready to go before you start. That means everything measured and laid out. You'll thank me. Trust me). Popped it in the fridge and off I went about the rest of my weekend... Working (this was the height of tax season),drinking, watching the masters, brunching, running, etc...

And then before I know it, Easter Sunday rolls around and the tart dough and the chocolate cream are still hanging out in my fridge. Chilling. It was a long weekend and the pie just didn't get made.

It was at this point, however, that I snuck a few spoonfuls of the cream. The first taste, I was like... ehhh.. okay. By the third bite I was like... oh my god, how can I get this chocolate cream pie filling into my mouth faster? I mean, it was delicious. So creamy, thick and chocolatey. Knowing that I had no one to share this pie with, I knew that I had to do something quick to get this puppy made and photographed and out of my possession. So, I threw the tart dough in the freezer and got out some graham crackers.

I made a graham cracker crust, put it into a mini springform pan and a little while later, I was filling that crust up with some of the chocolate cream. I really wanted to make the whipped cream topping that went with it, but I honestly just didn't have the patience or the time. Remember? Chocolate cream into my mouth. NOW.

I couldn't even photograph it without eating it. I will definitely make this again and in it's rightful way. With the tart dough, with the whipped cream and I'll definitely make some friends with wherever I take it. Check out Kim's Blog Scrumptious Photography for the recipe.

TWD: Banana Cream Pie

First of all, pardon the CRAPPY pictures. I made this pie back in December for a friend's birthday... and I just felt weird about whipping my camera out and telling his parents... "hold that fork! I gotta get a pic first." Or asking the birthday boy, "umm... is it possible to have this for breakfast instead of after dinner dessert, cause yeah, the morning light is sooo much better than the artificial light in your place?" Yeah, so these pics were taken at night, in my kitchen and I didn't get any pics of the cut into pie. Que sera, sera or whatev.

When my friend told me he wanted a banana cream pie for his birthday dessert, I was kinda less than thrilled. Actually, I was bummed. I'd never had a banana cream pie before and the whole idea of it just didn't thrill me. I'm not a pudding girl and meringue makes me want to barf. There, I've said it.

So, I started going through recipes and decided to use Dorie's because I figured... hey, I'm not going to like this, so I might as well make it for the group and be able to hand it off to another person all at once.

I whipped up the pastry cream (the filling) for the pudding and it got so thick and gloopy I knew I must have done something wrong, so I threw it out. Round two of the pastry cream... turned out still pretty gloopy, but a little better. I soldiered on.

I made this with a graham cracker crust and was excited when I saw that Dorie calls for a whipped cream topping instead of a meringue. Thatta girl, Dorie. *fist bump.*

Surprisingly, I liked this! And while I don't think it was my friends all time favorite banana cream experience, it was good enough. And I REALLY wanted to make a mini-version this weekend/week to have better pics for this post, but I'm swamped. Tax season+marathon training= busy, tired Amy.

Check out Amy's blog Sing for your Supper for the recipe and all the other bakers at
Tuesdays with Dorie.

TWD: Butterscotch Pudding

Butterscotch. Let me just start off by telling you how much I love butterscotch. I always pick out the butterscotch first in an assortment of hard candies. I love the sweet and the buttery mixed together. It really is a match made in heaven.

So, to say I was excited about making Butterscotch Pudding for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, is a bit of an understatement. I had visions of using this pudding in a tart shell for a Butterscotch Pudding Tart. Because... honestly... how good does that sound??

I was over at my parents house on Saturday morning and decided to rummage around their liquor cabinet (because, they seriously have anything and everything you would need in terms of liquor... its like going to a free liquor store). I knew my dad would have some Johnny Walker Black (which... I know.. is blended whiskey or whatever... semantics) until I saw this little jewel...

Glenfiddich 15 year reserve SINGLE MALT. Exactly what I was looking for! Just for kicks I poured my mom and I out some in a little glass, because honestly, I'd never had scotch before. Nevermind that it was like 10:30 in the morning. First, I smelled it and about gagged. And then I took a sip and seriously thought my tongue was going to burn off and that I would die choking on it. It was bad. My mom took a sip and I expected her response to be the same... I waited patiently looking at her, wanting her to join in the disgust for scotch with me... But she threw the glass back and after her non-chalant reaction I wouldn't have been surprised if she'd stuck her tongue down in the glass and licked it. I mean. Jeez... she pounded that scotch like nobody's business. Finally she said... "Hmm... would be better with a little water."

For those of you keeping score that's...

Mom: 1

Amy: 0

In the "who's a better drunk category. "

I didn't let the taste of the scotch deter me... I was determined that this was going to be a kick ass pudding. I got home and remembering how quick on your feet you have to be when making pudding, I laid out all my ingredients like I was on Emeril or something. I made only a half batch... because I was planning on just making two little adorable butterscotch pudding tarts.

The recipe came together quickly. I was glad I was prepared, because it made things go soooo much smoother. But, as it was coming together I noticed the pale, ashy, disgusting color that it was becoming and I was hoping that the vanilla and scotch would help fix that a bit.

It didn't and I thought... well who cares, I'll just cover the top in whipped cream. I decided to give the pudding a taste before I whipped up my tarts....

One word describes this pudding: Scotch. It should be called Scotch pudding. I mean... there is no buttery-ness whatsoever. But, if you love scotch... you'd freaking love this pudding. So... make this for your Mom (in my case, who apparently doesn't mind the taste of scotch) or your cirrhosis plagued uncle.

Thanks to Donna of Spatulas, Corkscrews & Suitcases (Cute blog name!) for picking out this recipe. Maybe once I "acquire" my scotch palate, I'll be into this pudding. Until then, I guess I'll stick to my artificial butterscotch flavors.

TWD: Chocolate Pudding

Alright, so chocolate pudding isn't one of my favorite things. I mean... sure, I'll eat the snack packs and when dieting, I'll opt for the sugar free pudding, but it's just not something I ever sit around and think... damn, I'd love me a bowl full of chocolate pudding.

So when Melissa of It's Melissa's Kitchen chose Chocolate Pudding for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie, I was kind of like... hmmm.. chocolate pudding. Not bad, but not something to jump up and down about, right?

I didn't get around to making the pudding this weekend, but I did read the recipe and I noticed that a food processor was a key component in the recipe. I don't have a food processor, so I just thought... well, I can just use my Mixer (Betty) and she'll do a fine job.

Last night rolled around and I still hadn't made the pudding. I thought... well... I've made like 4-5 TWD's in a row... maybe it's time to take a break. So, yes, I decided to take a break. But, then I got home from work and I started to feel a little guilty.... I mean, I did have all the ingredients on hand...

So, I sat down with the recipe and broke it into a quarter of recipe and made two little cups of pudding. I must admit, this recipe is easy... but, I advise you measure out all your ingredients and have them ready before you begin... I was caught off guard how quickly my pudding mixture started to thicken once I put it on the stove.

And, as I was taking pictures of the pudding... I took a little taste... and then I took another little taste... and then I decided... wow... this is a lot better than snack pack pudding. And I kept sneaking spoonfuls in, until the entire cup looked like this...

So, a big thanks to Melissa for picking a recipe that I normally would have NEVER tried. If you are a big pudding fan, you'll love this recipe and even if you don't think you like pudding that much, you should give it a try. Yum.

Recipe Notes* The only change I made, was using 2% milk. I love milk. I usually drink 2% to be somewhat healthy... but if I have some leftover whole milk sitting in my fridge, I drink it up in one sitting. So, I try to stay away from buying whole milk. I thought that the 2% worked great! Very rich and creamy.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Pudding Dessert

I'm going on record to officially call it a rut. That's right... I'm in a baking/sweet making rut. Maybe I'm getting pickier? But, I just can't seem to make anything mindblowingly tasty lately. What's the deal?

Sure, I've made some delicious bar cookies... but, as far as pies and cakes and regular cookies go... I'm consistently striking out. And that sucks. Like really, really sucks, ya know?

This dessert was supposed to be mindblowingly good. But, it missed the mark. I mean, sure... it's tasty.... but, it's not quite there. You know what I mean? Like, it's on the cusp of being excellent... I served this as the anti-fruit dessert this weekend. (My brother Mike doesn't like anything fruit for dessert) and alongside the white goo infested blueberry pie it was good. But, it wasn't great. It was creamy, and peanut buttery.... but, it was too much like a pudding for me. I needed some contrast. I think that a layer of oreo cookies between the peanut butter layer and the chocolate layer would have been delicious. I love it when crunchy things get soggy. (Weird, I know).

Hopefully, I'll get my mojo back soon.


Peanut Butter Chocolate Dessert.

Mint Chocolate Chip Pie

Remember when I first moved into my condo and there was a week there that I didn’t have a refrigerator? Yeah, I know, I’ve been trying to block it out, too. Well, one of those nights my best friends Steph and Justyn came over and brought me dinner from PF Changs (is there anything better than their steamed shrimp dumplings, mmmmmm).

Well, I wanted to repay them for their kindness (remember they also bought me Betty the kitchenaid mixer and mixing bowls, too!!) so I decided to invite them over for dinner last Thursday night. The menu was basic (I mean, no need to get crazy on a Thursday night, right?), but I wanted to make a dessert, too.

So, I found this pie recipe.

It’s very simple to make and apparently pretty forgiving, since the grocery store was out of regular vanilla pudding and I had to use French vanilla. One note though, it makes enough filling for 2 pies. I mean, seriously. You can easily cut this recipe in half to make one pie. I had a ton of filling left over.

I ended up putting the leftovers in the freezer and am anxious to try it frozen. I think it will be more like an ice cream pie. But, it’s very good. The only changes I made was that I used an oreo cookie pre-made crust, the French vanilla pudding, and I also added andes mints on top.

Chocolate Eclair

Holidays in my family revolve around traveling to my grandma's house about an hour and a half East of Nashville. It's a pot luck affair. My Aunt Loretta always brings the turkey, my Aunt Evelyn always brings the broccoli and cheese casserole (one of my favorites), we always have my grandma's delicious green beans and my mom always brings this dessert. It's a tradition. A tradition that has gone on for so long, that the dessert has become apart of the family and as such, it is affectionately called "Clair."

Clair is brought to both Thanksgiving and Christmas. And a few times in the past, we would load up the car and sometimes we would forget Clair, leaving her a lonely holiday sitting in the fridge (although, this was always a good thing for my immediate family... just means we got Clair all to ourselves when we got home from grandma's hungry and empty-handed). Which means, now, when people start filtering to the dessert, you'll always hear at least one person say... "is Clair here?" And out of the various brownies, cakes, and pies, Clair is the one dessert that is always completely empty at the end of dinner.

Now, I actually didn't eat Clair for a long time. You see, on my 4th birthday I got sick and threw up and for about 10 years after that, I wouldnt touch anything with frosting on it (for some reason, I equated the vomiting with the frosting), so all my birthday cakes from then on had to be plain, etc... so, since Clair has canned frosting poured all over her top, I wouldn't go near her.

Eventually, I realized what sugary goodness I was missing for so long and fell in love with frosting and as a result, fell in love with Clair.

I don't know where the name comes from, but it's actually more like a poor man's tiramisu. It's essentially a pudding dessert with graham cracker layers that soften and a chocolate frosting top. I made it for the first time this year, and while it wasn't quite as good as mom's, it was pretty good.

Easy and delicious and for my family, tradition.

Clair (Chocolate Eclair)

box of graham crackers
2 large boxes of vanilla instant pudding
5 cups of milk
1 8 oz package of cream cheese, softened
1 large tub of cool whip
1 tub chocolate frosting

Layer the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan with graham crackers. Set aside.

For filling: In a large bowl, beat with an electric mixer the pudding packages and milk until thick (when my mom first received this recipe she was told to beat for 15 minutes, which I did, but she said she usually only beats till it starts to get thick, about 5 minutes, either way is fine).

Then add softened cream cheese and cool whip one at a time, blend well.

Pour half of pudding mixture into pan and spread over crackers. Then add another layer of graham crackers and then put the rest of the pudding on top of that layer.

Heat the can of frosting up slightly, to make it pourable and pour it over the top and spread it out. Refrigerate overnight.

Note about the frosting: If you get it too hot, it will separate on top of the pudding and look gross. Also, we only use about 2/3 of the tub of frosting, but you can use as much or as little as you like, it's rich and sweet, which is why we don't use all of it.

I also baked a cherry pie and there was a slice to bring home! Yay!